Baseball's Best Decade (13 page)

Jimmie Foxx was a run-producing machine during the 1930s, averaging 140 RBIs per season.

Ted Williams averaged 127 RBIs for the 7 full seasons he played during the 1940s.

1920s –
Averaging over 133 RBIs per season (helped by his 46 home runs per season), Babe Ruth was an offensive tidal wave during the 1920s, massive and unstoppable. Ruth led the American League in runs batted in 5 times during the 1920s, finishing second twice (164 RBIs in 1927 was good enough only for second place … to Lou Gehrig’s 175).

Who almost made the list?
George Sisler at 827, Joe Sewell and Goose Goslin at 821.

1930s –
Baseball’s high-octane offense of the 1930s produced 7 hitters with more than 1,000 RBIs each for the decade. Jimmie Foxx
averaged
more than 140 RBIs per season, and Lou Gehrig averaged more than 135. Between them, they led the American League in RBIs 6 times. Mel Ott was the National League RBI champ only once during the 1930s, but finished among the league’s top 5 in RBIs 8 times during the decade.

Who almost made the list?
Joe Cronin at 1,036, Charlie Gehringer at 1,003, Chuck Klein at 979.

1940s –
Run production dropped significantly during the 1940s, another casualty of the Second World War as many of baseball’s better hitters left to serve in the military. For the 7 full seasons that Ted Williams did play during the 1940s, he averaged 127 RBIs per season. In the decade, he led the American League in RBIs every season he played except for 1948, when he finished third. (Joe DiMaggio led the league that year with 155.) Johnny Mize, the highest ranking National Leaguer, led the senior circuit in RBIs 3 times.

Who almost made the list?
Joe Gordon at 710, Stan Musial at 706, Lou Boudreau at 692.

The Top
RBI Producers for Each Decade (1950s-1970s)

Two Brooklyn sluggers, Duke Snider (left) and Gil Hodges dominated the 1950s in RBIs the same as they did in home runs. Between them, only Snider won an RBI crown with 136 in 1955. But their consistency made them the best run producers in all of baseball.

Yogi Berra was the American League’s leader in RBIs for the 1950s, but not for any single season. He topped 100 RBIs 5 times during the decade, and averaged 99.7 runs batted in.

Though routinely regarded as a “pitcher’s decade” with lower scoring, the 1960s produced 4 hitters with 1,000 or more RBIs for the decade, the most since the 1930s. (Left to right) Hank Aaron, Harmon Killebrew, Frank Robinson and Willie Mays all averaged at least 100 RBIs during the 1960s.